In a sit-down interview with David Hanham, the Queensland Rugby Union Chief Executive looked ahead to a big 2025 in Australian rugby and reflected on this year’s gains in Queensland rugby.
The Queensland Reds head into the New Year knowing that more hard work is the way to build on the sound foundation of 2024 in Super Rugby Pacific.
Question: What excites you about the Reds in 2025?
Hanham: We’re really happy with what Les Kiss, his coaching team and the players have produced with the improvements on the field in 2024.
The brand of rugby being played by the team, adventure with the ball and tough, skilled play in the forwards, has certainly been good to watch from a fan’s point of view.
The team beat three Kiwi sides in a season for the first time since 2013. The win in Christchurch over the Crusaders was the first there in 25 years. That is a major step up.
One thing we know is that Super Rugby never stands still. Reducing five Australian teams to four has made the competition harder with teams improving their rosters.
The Reds are up for the hard work and quality of preparation and performance required to deliver their very best in Super Rugby Pacific.
With great pride we have seen Liam Wright and Harry Wilson both rise to be Wallabies captains. We will head into 2025 with 18 Wallabies in our squad. In all, seven of those Reds became Wallabies for the first time in 2024 with eager minds to keep learning.
Question: How valuable has it been to build a Reds International program on top of Super Rugby?
Hanham: It’s been a significant and strategic objective to develop both our players and our professional rugby coaches and staff.
The squad will enter the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season as our best prepared Reds side in years.
Since July, matches have been played against Wales, Tonga and Japan’s Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights (two). In late January, the Reds head to the United Kingdom for pre-season games against Bristol Bears and Ulster.
There’s no better development for a player than extra games but also playing those games against international opposition, different game styles and in varied conditions.
Promising players like Massimo De Lutiis and Dre Pakeho didn’t play any Super Rugby in 2024 yet they benefitted enormously from game time in the International Program.
They’ll be ready to play when needed next year which is all part of Les’ philosophy of “closing the gap” between the team’s top players and those newer to the squad.
The International Program is also part of our aim to be a globally respected Rugby brand. It speaks to the legacy of great Queensland teams of previous generations.
It’s significant that the fixture against the Reds is a feature of Centenary celebrations for Ulster’s home ground at Ravenhill.
Question: You see the progress within the Reds and QRU, are you seeing the same reception from fans?
Hanham: I know that has been one of the really encouraging shifts in 2024. Crowds at Suncorp Stadium increased and our final turnout against Wales (23,164) was our biggest attendance for three years.
There were 11 tries scored that night and I had people tell me it was one of the best spectacles they’d seen in years.
We really saw that passion for the Reds ignite that night and in home wins like that wonderful effort against the Chiefs. We want to keep fuelling that passion.
No Reds team in the professional era has matched the 69 tries scored during Super Rugby in 2024 which is a measure that it’s attractive rugby as well as a winning style.
Credit to our membership and ticketing team. The number of full-season memberships sold for 2025 is already above the season mark for 2024.
An Anzac Day match against the Blues and a match against the NSW Waratahs early in the season are just some of the highlights coming up at Suncorp Stadium.
Question: How big an impact will be made by the British and Irish Lions when they tour in 2025?
Hanham: We’ve been talking about the “golden runway” for rugby for some time.
The arrival of the Lions will be a huge occasion for sport, not just rugby. The progress of the Wallabies on their end-of-season tour gives us all optimism for what’s possible in that series.
The Reds play a tour game against the Lions at Suncorp Stadium. That will be a massive event and a full house on July 2.
Question: The Reds women’s program is going through a rebuilding period. Are the signs positive?
Hanham: We’ve just had one of the most exciting developments in the women’s game with our top sevens players, like Maddi Levi and Charlotte Caslick, committing to play in Super Rugby Women’s in 2025.
That’s on top of signing Wallaroos prop Eva Karpani in one of the most significant off-season player moves.
Being in such a position has been made possible by having a full-time high-performance chief (Nico Andrade) in place for the first time.
Under a new coach (Andrew Fraser), the early planning and player development is setting the team up for a strong 2025.
Question: How important has it been to have the new Ballymore and the BMS National Rugby Training Centre in full swing?
Hanham: It’s been an amazing 18 months since we re-opened Ballymore. We’ve delivered on the promise of a multi-sport and multi-purpose venue and have shown the way for cost-effective infrastructure at a pivotal time in Queensland.
Ballymore’s role as a vital part of the infrastructure for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics is already underway.
The 2023 Oceania Sevens was an Olympic qualifier for Paris 2024, Australia’s own women’s sevens team held a pre-Paris camp here and the Flag Football Nationals, for more than 30 teams, showcased a sport which has been included for the first time at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
High-performance training for NRL clubs and the NSW State of Origin team has increased the use of the facility as well as a range of community activities.
The venue has hosted games for both the men’s and women’s Reds, the Wallaroos and A-League football, for men and women, plus a whole range of club rugby, age-group and schools activities.
Rugby Australia has committed to relocating the Australian women’s sevens program from Sydney to Ballymore should Government backing for an Olympic sevens’ High-Performance Centre be approved for the site of the jaded Eastern Stand.
Question: Queensland rugby is not just about the Reds. What is the health of other levels of the game?
Hanham: The strength of our pathways is a feature and the hard work done there through the Buildcorp Reds Academy is significant.
The Australian Under-18s had a terrific win over New Zealand and nearly all of the Queensland players involved were already committed or advanced in talks with our Academy program, as their future, before that game.
The Queensland Country Heelers won the Australian Rugby Shield for the first time in 24 years and the Orchids made the women's final. The Buildcorp Emerging Reds Cup, across three days at Ballymore, was a major success in showcasing the strength in juniors across the state while players from our strong regional rugby centres are rising through the pathways.
At club level, the StoreLocal Hospital Cup grand final was the culmination of a well-supported season that shows that rugby at grassroots level is highly appealing.
Finally, a thank you to all in the rugby community who help to make it the game we love and want to see prosper.
